


The Uncle

by extremelyperturbed



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff and Angst, M/M, romantic dramedy, so not going to happen on the show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-19
Updated: 2013-08-19
Packaged: 2017-12-24 00:11:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/932732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extremelyperturbed/pseuds/extremelyperturbed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hannibal's uncle Robert comes in for a visit.  Will has a bit of a crush on him.  Hannibal is not pleased.   It diverges a lot from book canon and is more of a playful what-if.</p><p>Answers a kinkmeme request.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Uncle

“I swear I saw David Bowie the other day,” said Beverly to Will during lunch at the local spaghetti and meatball joint. 

“Where?”

“In Baltimore.”

“Why would he be in Baltimore?”

“I don’t know but I swear I saw him. I was driving through Baltimore when I saw him talking with Hannibal at a cafe.”

Will frowned. “Hannibal?”

“He never mentioned knowing him?”

“No, maybe he’s a patient?” said Will. 

“That’s pretty far to go for a treatment. And most psychiatrists don’t have coffee with patients at a café. How about you ask him if he happens to know him?”

***

Will drove over to Hannibal’s house for their weekly dinner. He knocked on the door only to have someone who looked like David Bowie open the door. “Will Graham?” said the man.

“Uh, yes . . . I’m here to see Hannibal.”

“Come in, he’s expecting you.”

Will walked in. After the man closed the door behind him, the man smiled and said, “Let me introduce myself. My name is Robert Lecter. I’m Hannibal’s uncle on his father’s side. Hannibal is busy in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on an amazing dinner.”

“I’m Will Graham. I’m . . .” Will wasn’t sure how he should introduce himself and how to define his rather unusual relationship to Dr. Lecter to the man. “I know Dr. Lecter from work.”

“You’ve left a very favorable impression on him,” said Robert. “That’s very hard to do.”

“I didn’t know that. I’m sorry but I don’t remember him talking very much about family.”

“When he was young, I lived in a different country so I wasn’t a big part of his childhood. He was already a teenager when he came to live with me. I had an art exhibition in town so I decided to visit him. I haven’t seen him in three years.”

“That’s quite a while. What kind of art do you do?”

“I do some painting, some pencil work.”

“I’d like to see that,” said Will.

“I see that you’ve met my uncle.”

Will turned to see Hannibal come out of the kitchen. “Dr. Lecter, you should have told me about him.”

Hannibal smiled thinly. “Dinner is ready.”

***  
That night’s dinner was shabu-shabu, a hotpot dish where each diner was given thin slices of high-quality beef to cook in the communal hotpot full of lightly flavored broth then taken out and dipped into a sesame seed sauce or ponzu before being eaten.

“You’ve probably heard it before but a friend of mine saw you on the street in town and thought that you might be David Bowie,” said Will.

Robert chuckled. “I’ve been told that quite a few times. I am sorry to disappoint your friend. Sadly, I am nowhere near as good a singer as him.”

“Do you have any interesting stories about Hannibal?” said Will.

Hannibal put down his chopsticks. “Will, please.” 

Robert looked bemused. “All I’ll say is that the Hannibal you see before you is very much a product of the Hannibal of the past. He was always smart, driven and a stickler for proper behavior.” 

“Don’t look so disappointed, Will,” said Hannibal. “You don’t want to be too much like a certain redhead we both dislike.”

“I’m not interested in spreading gossip,” said Will. “I just wanted to know more about you.”

“You told me that you know my nephew from work. How?” said Robert.

“I work at the FBI and help profile criminals. Dr. Lecter has been most helpful.” Will smiled and Hannibal smiled at the praise. 

“You call him by his title. It’s really quite formal.”

“It started out that way and it’s stuck,” said Will. “It’s hard to think of what we have as becoming more informal.”

“I can think of ways,” said Hannibal.

“I’m glad that you’re his friend,” said Robert. “How about I show you my work?”

“I’d like that.”

“If you’re free this Saturday, I’ll take you.”

***  
Hannibal watched as Robert led Will through the gallery selling his work. He noticed that most of the time, Will was looking at Robert more than he was at the paintings and felt a rather uncomfortable twinge in his chest. He noted with displeasure the way his uncle was leading Will with light touches to the shoulder and back. If it had been any other man, he would have found a way to bat that hand away from him. 

“I don’t know much about art,” said Will, “But I think you’re amazing.”

“Thank you, you’re being very kind.”

“Did you teach Hannibal how to draw?”

“I taught him a little but it was really the teachers at school who helped him. I always thought he should have spent a bit more time developing it. He has a real eye for detail. It's almost noon. There‘s a nice Chinese restaurant around the corner . . .”

“I’m sorry but I have an appointment with Mrs. Komeda. I can’t stay . . .” said Hannibal.

“I’m sure Will and I will have lots to talk about,” said Robert.

***

“Will?” said Hannibal at their next appointment.

“Yes?”

“I notice that you have a bit of a crush on my uncle.”

Will smiled sheepishly. “It’s that obvious?”

“Very much so. I must warn you that he hasn’t expressed any interest moving here from Europe . . . In fact, he‘s due to return to France in two weeks.”

“Robert told me that . . .”

“Robert?” Hannibal felt hurt that Will was on a first name basis with his uncle but insisted on calling him doctor. 

“That is his name. I’m a grown man, I know how flings work between two consenting adults. Besides, it’s not like that at all. Robert hasn’t . . . He’s just been very nice to me without expecting anything, something that doesn’t happen often.” 

“Good, I‘m relieved.”

“Good? Really, Hannibal?” Will stood up. 

“What’s wrong?” Hannibal was surprised at the angry and hurt look on Will’s face. 

“I really resent the implication that I‘m not good enough for your uncle.”

“I said no such thing.” 

“You very well implied it. I’m not wealthy or polished or have a talent that everybody can appreciate but . . . I think I better leave before I do something stupid . . .”

“Will!” yelled Hannibal as Will stormed out of the room.

***  
“What are you doing?” said Robert as he walked into Hannibal’s kitchen where he noted Hannibal had his back to him and was cooking to fill several open Tupperware containers on the counter. 

“I’m making breakfast for Will. I have to make it very special or he won‘t open the door.”

“You’ve had some kind of fight.”

“A misunderstanding.”

“I can tell that you blame me for it,” said Robert. 

“I do not . . .”

Robert sighed. “Please don’t pretend, Hannibal. When you came home last night, you spent most of the evening either silently ignoring me or glaring at me as if you wanted me to be eaten by a tiger. You like him, don‘t you?”

“He is my friend.”

“A friend you want to be more. It doesn’t appear that you’ve told him this fact.”

“Our relationship is complicated.”

“You mean, like the relationship between you and my late wife.”

“I never . . . She wouldn’t . . .”

“I know. But I also know that you felt the need to leave for America because you couldn‘t change how you felt about her.” 

Hannibal turned off the heat on the range before turning to look at Robert. “It’s true I had feelings for her but I would never do that to the only family I have in the world.”

“I know. I wouldn‘t be here if you had . . .” Robert sighed. “My dear nephew, I am a lonely old widower who was enjoying the passing interest of someone decades younger than myself. Life is short and my charms transitory, so I have no guilt for enjoying the lift to the ego it gave me. But you have nobody but yourself to blame if he has no idea you feel this way about him.”

Hannibal nodded. “I see your point.”

“I’ll have you know that during most of the lunch, he was interested in talking about you.”

“About me?”

“Yes. He begged me for a picture of you when you were young so I drew him a picture on a piece of paper I borrowed from the restaurant. He said that you were handsome even back then.” Robert grinned rather widely. “He said that I reminded him of you.”

“Oh . . .” 

“Now go and get him before I change my mind and snag him for myself.”

***

Hannibal held the bag containing the containers of food in one hand and knocked on Will’s door with the other. 

“Will, I know you’re there. Please open the door,” said Hannibal. He had heard Will’s footsteps and the dogs milling around but the door had refused to open. “All this food I have will just go to waste.”

Hannibal waited on the doorstep for a minute before the door opened slowly to reveal a rather unhappy Will Graham in T-shirt and shorts. 

“Dr. Lecter, I don’t think . . .”

“I made you breakfast. I’ve made you breakfast several times a month for these past months. I‘d hope that would get me a few minutes of latitude.”

Will frowned but stepped away from the door to let him in.

Once Hannibal closed the door behind him, he said, “The truth is that I was jealous . . .” He paused, finding himself in the very rare situation of being tongue-tied.

“You were jealous that I was taking so much of your uncle’s time away from you?” Will looked rather apologetic. 

Hannibal was terribly vexed, oh so vexed that Will was simply not getting it. For someone who could dive into the worst minds and grasp their inner workings, Will really was imperceptive when it came to him. “No, I was unhappy that he was taking up your time. Now, please let me plate all this so we can talk this over breakfast like civilized people!”

***  
Things were less tense once breakfast was presented. There was passion fruit lemonade, cubes of sharlyn melon, brioche French toast, a small container of maple syrup and small chicken apple sausages.

“There are a few things I should explain,” said Hannibal. “Once upon a time, I was in an orphanage and my uncle Robert adopted me. He didn’t find out where I was until years after I was orphaned because he was living outside the country. He found me, swept me away to France and had me live with him. When I got there, there was his wife, who appeared to be the most beautiful woman in the world and was kind to me. I fell for her very hard but I couldn’t even entertain the thought of expressing myself.” 

“That must have been terribly uncomfortable.”

“Very much so. That’s why I left for America. I guess when I saw him charming you, it raised a lot of bad old feelings. The reason for my relief wasn’t that I thought my uncle was better off without you. I was relieved that he wasn’t . . . taking you away from me.”

“I feel so dumb.”

“A good deal of it is my own fault for not expressing myself prior to this. You are special even if everybody else makes you feel otherwise.” 

***  
It was only after they had driven Robert to the airport and wished him a good trip home that Hannibal remembered to ask to see the drawing Robert had drawn of him. 

Will opened his briefcase and showed him the sheet of paper Robert had drawn on. It showed a picture of a Hannibal three decades younger, his face unlined but touched with melancholy and longing. 

“He captured me perfectly,” said Hannibal.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't read the book Hannibal Rising but have heard about the uncle character who was an artist. I also heard that Bryan Fuller wants David Bowie to play the uncle but there's nothing solid about the casting. I so liked the idea, I decided to write a fic based on that casting. 
> 
> I have no idea what Fuller will be doing with the uncle next season so I can't tell if he's strictly in flashbacks or if he's still alive. So I decided to pretend he's still alive.


End file.
